The Experiences That Shaped How I Lead
Every role taught me something different. Some taught me how to build. Some taught me how to lead. Some taught me what not to do. Others challenged me to become a better leader, collaborator, and strategist. Taken together, these experiences shaped how I lead, how I solve problems, and how I approach change.
Ally Financial
Director of Product Experience – Dealer Platforms, AI & Customer Experience
2023 – Now
Ally Financial is a leading digital financial services company serving millions of consumers, businesses, and automotive dealers nationwide.
I led product experience, operational modernization, and AI-driven innovation initiatives across Ally’s dealer ecosystem, customer care platforms, and emerging enterprise AI efforts. Supporting one of the nation’s largest automotive finance organizations, including a dealer business responsible for approximately $40 billion in annual originations, I focused on helping modernize products, improve organizational effectiveness, and explore how emerging AI technologies could create meaningful value across the enterprise.
Organizational Transformation & Team Leadership
- Stabilized and transformed distributed product experience teams spanning Detroit, Charlotte, and California through stronger accountability models, coaching, operational transparency, and strategic alignment.
- Improved accountability, collaboration, and team engagement through workflow restructuring, collaboration models, and redesigned team environments focused on innovation and ideation.
- Expanded visibility, mentorship, and growth opportunities across the organization, helping drive multiple team promotions, including three promotions within a 12-person team following a multi-year promotion drought.
- Shifted teams from primarily execution-focused workflows toward more strategic, experience-driven thinking and stronger partnerships with Product Owners, CX, Content, Engineering, and business stakeholders.
- Achieved one of the highest employee engagement scores within DPX, with team engagement consistently exceeding department averages.
- Supported the development of multiple high-performing team members, including an Ally Award recipient.
- Participated in Detroit and DPX culture initiatives and contributed to recognition and rewards program improvements.
AI & Innovation
- Led product experience design efforts and supported enterprise rollout of Ally.ai, an internal AI platform built on ChatGPT technology supporting company-wide workflows including document summarization, guided prompting, knowledge management, AI-assisted writing, and productivity enhancement.
- Co-led exploration of Figma Make and AI-assisted delivery workflows, helping establish scalable approaches for accelerating design-to-code generation and operationalizing emerging AI capabilities.
- Led AI-enabled innovation initiatives including intelligent vehicle recommendations, AI-assisted call summarization, conversational experience exploration, and emerging AI workflow concepts across customer and associate experiences.
- Participated in enterprise AI governance initiatives including Adobe Firefly reviews, generative AI approval processes, and responsible AI discussions.
Product & Platform Modernization
- Directed modernization efforts across SmartAuction, SmartCash, Dealer Dash, Dealer Insurance, Ally Ride Return, Associate Desktop, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), chatbot, and customer care experiences.
- Helped shape SmartAuction 2030 strategy, exploring future-state dealer experiences, workflow modernization opportunities, and AI-enabled capabilities.
- Led SmartAuction Mobile 2.0 experience direction, contributing to vendor evaluation, modernization strategy, platform collaboration, and workflow improvements.
- Recovered and realigned the SmartCash modernization initiative, restoring delivery momentum through improved stakeholder alignment and streamlined UX processes.
- Championed development of a dealer-focused design system tailored specifically to dealer workflows and operational realities.
Operational Excellence
- Introduced operational improvements spanning resource forecasting, workflow visibility, governance participation, file management standards, collaboration frameworks, and UX delivery processes.
- Implemented low-fidelity review workflows that accelerated design feedback cycles, improved stakeholder alignment, and helped teams meet aggressive enterprise delivery timelines.
- Developed new resource planning and capacity tracking approaches that improved forecasting visibility, highlighted staffing constraints, and supported more effective prioritization decisions.
- Participated in enterprise-wide critique and governance forums providing strategic design feedback and UX guidance across a broad range of initiatives.
- My team supported five of UX organization’s 15 most strategic initiatives during 2025 despite representing a relatively small percentage of overall UX staffing.
What I learned at Ally
Transformation starts with people way before it starts with technology. Our most successful outcomes came from improving alignment, accountability, trust, and collaboration. Technology accelerates change, but people ultimately determine whether it succeeds….or not.
UnitedHealth Group / Optum
UHG is the largest healthcare company in the world, ranking 5th on the Fortune 500 in 2022. Optum is a business platform of UnitedHealth Group, providing information and technology-enabled health services.
I enjoyed a 12-year career with UnitedHealth Group / Optum, progressing from senior designer and team lead roles to leadership positions overseeing larger initiatives, teams, and business-critical healthcare experiences. Each step increased the scale of responsibility, complexity, and business impact.
Experience Design Director / Principal Product Experience Lead
2021 – 2023
Provided strategic product experience leadership for Optum Behavioral Health Solutions, supporting a healthcare technology organization responsible for more than $3.4 billion in annual business activity.
Key Contributions
- Led experience strategy and modernization initiatives across enterprise healthcare applications and workflows.
- Influenced product direction through usability validation, stakeholder collaboration, and enterprise design system alignment.
- Helped elevate UX maturity through critique leadership, accessibility advocacy, and design standardization efforts.
- Partnered closely with business, product, development, and research teams to align user needs with operational and technical goals.
- Participated in internal innovation initiatives exploring emerging technologies and future healthcare experiences.
What I learned as an Experience Design Director / Principal Product Experience Lead
At enterprise scale, success is rarely about a single product. It’s about creating systems, processes, and partnerships that enable teams to consistently deliver better outcomes.
Senior UX/UI Manager
2018 – 2021
Led product experience and brand direction for Point of Care Assist, a $60 million greenfield healthcare initiative designed to bring actionable patient insights directly into provider workflows.
Key Contributions
- Managed experience efforts spanning distributed teams, multiple workflows, and third-party integrations.
- Served as primary experience liaison between Optum and major Electronic Medical Record (EMR) vendors.
- Developed scalable design standards, documentation, and governance practices that improved consistency and operational efficiency.
- Supported executive leadership, sales, training, and conference teams through demos, presentations, and immersive product experiences.
- Helped shape overall information architecture and experience strategy across multiple provider workflows.
What I learned as a Senior UX/UI Manager
The best healthcare experiences don’t just improve usability. They help people make better decisions when those decisions matter most.
UX/UI Manager / Senior Team Lead / Senior UX/UI Designer
2012 – 2018
Progressed through multiple leadership and design roles while helping establish enterprise UX practices across UnitedHealth Group.
Key Contributions
- Led user experience design across multiple enterprise healthcare products, balancing strategic planning, team leadership, and hands-on design direction.
- Managed multidisciplinary teams supporting enterprise initiatives totaling more than $20 million in combined program scope.
- Maintained better than 96% team utilization across capital projects over multiple years (best in the department).
- Improved resource forecasting, planning, and delivery coordination across multiple programs.
- Established scalable UX collaboration standards, reusable design patterns, Angular-based front-end frameworks, and living style guides.
- Mentored designers and emerging leaders through coaching, critique, and career development support.
- Served as a founding member of the Mobile App Design Council, helping establish mobile UX best practices across the enterprise.
What I learned moving through the ranks
As responsibilities grow, your impact becomes less about the work you personally produce and more about the environment you create for others to succeed.
Compuware Corporation
Compuware was a global enterprise software and technology services company that partnered with many of the world’s largest organizations to design, build, and modernize digital products and platforms, including 46 of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies.
Creative / UX Director & Systems Analyst
2010 – 2012
Compuware gave me the opportunity to work directly with General Motors during the early days of mobile application adoption, helping shape some of the company’s earliest consumer and dealer-focused mobile experiences.
Key Contributions
- Designed and launched mobile and tablet applications across Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, and Buick brands.
- Led user research, usability testing, interaction design, workflow modeling, and prototyping efforts.
- Conducted user testing and A/B testing activities across low- and high-fidelity concepts.
- Collaborated directly with client stakeholders to define requirements and shape future digital experiences.
- Partnered closely with development teams and creative agencies to ensure successful implementation.
What I learned as the Creative / UX Director & Systems Analyst
Great products emerge when business goals and user needs are treated as partners rather than competitors. I also learned that some of the best ideas never make it to market unless designers understand the realities of development, technical limitations, timelines, and organizational constraints. Innovation is important, but execution is what ultimately creates value.
Campbell-Ewald
One of the top 25 American advertising agencies and a subsidiary of the Interpublic Group (at the time).
Senior Multimedia Art Director & Developer
2008 – 2010
Campbell-Ewald exposed me to large-scale digital marketing, CRM, and interactive experiences supporting some of the world’s most recognizable brands.
Key Contributions
- Worked on digital marketing and CRM initiatives supporting Chevrolet, Michelin, USPS, Lear, Aramark, the American Heart Association, and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
- Developed award-winning interactive campaigns, including the Chevy Country Music Digital Calendar.
- Helped establish standards and processes across General Motors’ digital CRM initiatives.
- Led digital production, information architecture, user interface design, coding, and creative execution across multiple programs.
- Mentored junior creative talent and contributed to agency-wide creative leadership efforts.
What I learned as a Senior Multimedia Art Director & Developer
Storytelling is often the difference between a good idea and one that people actually remember. It was also where I learned that successful projects involve far more than great creative work—they require navigating changing priorities, evolving requirements, competing stakeholder opinions, tight deadlines, and countless moving parts that are often outside your direct control.
DXdetroit
A digital design and development studio serving automotive, motorsports, entertainment, and media clients during the early years of the internet and digital marketing.
Founder & Studio Lead
Key Contributions
- Consistently delivered unique cutting-edge creative interactive marketing and advertising solutions.
- Recruited, fostered, and nurtured high-profile client relationships including Newman/Haas Racing (with Drivers Michael Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi), 93.1 DRQ Radio, AAA Michigan, Geoffrey Fieger, The Milwaukee Mile, The Grand Prix of Houston, The Grand Prix of Cleveland, General Motors, and others.
What I learned
Entrepreneurship teaches accountability in a way few other experiences can. When you’re responsible for every decision, every client relationship, and every outcome, you learn quickly what matters most.
Inside big companies wasn’t the only place I was learning.
Alongside these roles, I was launching products, building businesses, securing patents, and discovering what happens when you’re responsible for every decision.